If there's more than smoke to the rumor that free agents LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will split the cash pot and join forces in Miami, it'll represent a union unlike any we've ever seen in free agency.

And it'll show just what can happen when a franchise is a desired destination, when players believe a team gives them a viable chance to win in addition to giving them the deals they want.

(A delicious byproduct, by the way, would be New York coming up empty in the LeBron Sweepstakes - or am I the only one who has tired of New York media and Knicks followers seeming to believe no sane free agent can turn down an offer to play in New York?)

It's far from a done deal, of course. Free agency doesn't "officially" begin until Thursday, which leaves the equivalent of a lifetime for Cleveland to reclaim James, or the Nets to step in and sway Bosh, or Dallas to persuade James to engineer a sign-and-trade, or ... you get the idea.

But the possibility that it could happen - that three maximum contract-caliber players could wind up on the same team and shift the balance of power in the Eastern Conference and, perhaps, in the NBA, for the next five years - gives us reason to admire Miami for being desirable enough, more as a franchise than as a destination, for the players at least to consider the option.

Whatever the Heat is selling apparently is powerful. Whatever Wade has told his Team USA teammates apparently is persuasive. And that's how franchises strike it big in free agency.

As for the notion that such a mixture couldn't work, that James and Wade both are alpha males and neither will want to cede go-to-player status to the other, that probably is wishful thinking from people who hope the collaboration doesn't happen.

The Celtics just finished playing in their second NBA Finals in three years behind their Big Three, mainly because Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen were smart enough to figure out their roles and accept them. Boston figured it out with Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish in the past, same as the Lakers did with Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy.

In short, a leader will emerge and the others will get their touches and the team will be better for it. If, that is, James and Wade and Bosh actually do wind up in Miami and are as interested in winning as they claim to be.

At worst, at least Miami would be able to say it spared no expense and made the most aggressive free agency play in NBA history.

But then, it'll be safe to assume that if they end up on the same roster, they're pretty interested in winning. And to assume that Miami, and Wade, constructed the ultimate sales job.

It's a result that only can be dreamed of by a franchise players feel is serious about winning titles.